VuNow VN1000HD High Definition Kit Includes Wireless Adaptor and HDMI Cable
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars Not nearly as amazing as we thought it would be…
My husband purchased the VuNow a few months ago, as we’d already been running PlayOn through our PS3. We’d had PlayOn for nearly a year, and loved it, so gettng the VuNow for our upstairs tv seemed like a great idea (rather than buying a new tv w/ HD capabilities, another PS3, etc). It worked wonderfully for the first couple months, but in the last month, it’s started shutting off at random and losing internet connection. PlayOn still works on the PS3, our computers still work, but the VuNow claims there’s no internet connection available. We were supposed to have gotten a new network card for it, as we believe that’s the problem after running some tests (I luckily married a computer tech geek), but we have yet to see it show up. That was nearly a month ago.
When it is working, it’s wonderful. I like having the radio stations, too, and it is a lot cheaper than investing in cable or dish. I just find there’s nothing more irritating than watching something and 20 minutes into it, the system shuts off (epic fail) and you have to start the whole episode over again because the fast forward feature (like any internet video) lags once you get it to the place you want. It’s also rather irksome that half the time Netflix is having problems streaming video to the VuNow, so even that’s unaccessible.
Was okay in the beginning, but money would’ve been better spent on something else…
2 Stars Please be aware of the Hype
I will be returning this item. I do not recommend this at all. I understand how some may think that this is a great item because it’s the first time they’ve been able to realize anything web-centric on their TV BUT… I feel that this item over promises and under delivers.
Without a keyboard the alpha- numeric selections are on a grid in alphabetical order. This becomes very cumbersome to scroll and select and gets old real quick.
Video format not supported in a premier Channel for trailers. Cinema now may play some movies but at the $3.99 per movie I was not going to check it out as I already have a netflix account. There is no excuse for incorrect format on a featured channel. This is even after the automatic firmware update, it still did not recognise.
90% of the channels are garbage or curiosities at best. The two that promised any substance are, Netflix and Hulu. However, Netflix and Hulu and 2 others are NOT accessible without a 3rd party plugin called PlayOn. On the off chance you discover how to use the 3rd party PlayOn (you have to install it on a PC within your LAN and, as if by magic, your PC is turned into a conduit media server). The search ability and breakdown of movies into genre is not only inadequate but from what we can tell doesn’t provide the same programs as is available from the website and is limited in.
Oh… and about that search; horrible search functionality with no foreseeable way to sort your Video or YouTube results renders the search almost useless. You have to scroll thru 200+ results 4 selections at a time. It’s just like the iPhone interface, only the iPhone gives you more information.
YouTube allows you to login with your credentials. Why? I don’t know, because anything useful like my favorites is not accessible. So even if I favorite a movie on my PC, where the search and selection is useful, I would not be able to access it through this interface and would still need to navigate the overwhelming dump of results ofer 50 screens 4 items on each screen.
On general video searches, other than YouTube, any of the Videos we searched for were inaccessible or did not have the correct codec, despite it showing up in the search. In fact, on 2 occasions it locked up trying resolve one of these phantom videos and required a physical power cycle by unplugging it.
Video Quality was very good, it has more to do with the quality of the video than the device anyway. The WiFi works great and was an ease to install. It is compact and discrete with no more than 2 wires (power and HDMI) in WiFi mode.
So if you want to buy it for the novelty of it and be the first person on the block with a half-assed itv, get it. Otherwise I’d wait about 2 years until it becomes usefull.
1 Star Does not do as advertised
First of all, during set up, the remote is on the same frequency as my Magnavox HDTV. So, when trying to set it up, you either have to move it to another planet or install some sort of funny aluminum cone on the remote to stop it from changing channels or volume during set up. Since it does this to Magnavox, that means that it will do it to Philips too.
Next, the unit, even though it says it displays HD, try and find an “internet tv” channel that has it. My 30 minutes of playing around with it YIELDED NOTHING!!.
Finally, the last straw, you have to buy the software from PLAYON to get to Netflix or Hulu. WHAT A WASTE OF MY TIME!!
I have better things to do than this. I am going to get one of the new blu-ray players that has more and only costs about $30 more at Sam’s Club.
THIS UNIT DOES NOT DO WHAT IT SAYS and won’t access areas of the internet where it could!!!!!
3 Stars Don’t expect too much
I initially bought this product to view a few international channels that they advertise to be available. I understand that some of the channels might be down because it’s all coming through the internet, however, the main channels I was looking for have never worked and the others have no sound.
In the Live TV sections, if you go to the Americas, more than likely it will not be the live TV you are looking for. It will be, for example, the local FOX channel in San Francisco. Don’t expect to watch American Idol or any other prime time shows through this box.
After paying $150 for this box, I found it more convenient and cost efficient to buy a cheap computer and hook it up to your TV. You might spend double the price on a basic computer, but you have a full computer rather than a box that is limiting to what you can watch.
Conclusion: I’m returning this product. Maybe if it was cheaper I would have kept it and looked forward for updates and improvements, but at this price, I’d rather return it and buy it later when the technology gets better.
5 Stars Now is the time to cut the cable cord!
I’ve been in the Digital Media Business since there has been digital media (18yrs)and I can tell you this is the biggest bang for the buck out there.
Our group has tested 5 different solutions for this market and this is the best one yet! Not only is if feature rich but it allows for the most 3rd party plug-in’s. Basicly there isn’t anything that I want to view that I can’t get with the VuNow product and the proper plugin. This is the Future of Entertainment On Demand! Also you loose about 85% of those pesky commercials. In fact depending upon your view needs you may be able to skip commercials entirely! I literally canceled my DirecTv Dish Subscription when I purchased the VuNow Product! The packaged technology along with the available 3rd party plugins makes this a dream come true for those of us that have been doing this “manually” on our PC’s.
Cable/dish TV as we know it will be dead in 10 years. With the studios creating and posting their content on sites like [...] and [...] … they are collecting advertisement dollars directly instead of the cable companies. So in a way they themselves will see an increase in revenue directly as a result in these adventures. Even sites like CinemaNow and Amazon allow you to buy season passes to shows which is a fixed price per episode AND then you pretty much own what would be on that DVD box set for that particular season. So these are almost or are direct revenue streams for the studios themselves. So the Cable/dish company of today will need to adapt or they will be gone.
James M Murphy – Technologist
CTO Cineviz LLC
